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Dragon
A dragon guarded the Barrowland in the Great Forest for more than 370 years. The only individual of its kind mentioned in the Annals, the beast was one of several terrifying layers of security keeping Resurrectionists away from the Barrowland. While its origin is not specified, the dragon has the same hallmarks (agelessness; extreme loyalty) which define demons summoned from the demon realms, and was probably not a naturally-occurring creature. The monster was at least 50 feet tall and was winged. It had green eyes, considered by Bomanz to be "ancient, wise, merciless, arrogant, mocking, and contemptuous". It could easily observe disembodied spirits, but as its power was limited to the physical realm, the dragon could not harm them. Before the Annals The White Rose Rebellion During the White Rose Rebellion, the period of the Domination was ended. The Dominator, his wife the Lady, their enforcers known as the Ten Who Were Taken (alongside scores of lesser evils) were trapped underground, unconscious, in the Barrowland by the White Rose and her sorcerers. Intending to keep them there forever, and to prevent Resurrectionists from attempting to break them free, the victors added several layers of protection. A fire-breathing dragon was one of them. Like the ghosts of the White Rose's fallen warriors, the dragon was eternally loyal to the White Rose. It despised the Dominator and anyone who would seek to free him. Whether the dragon fought against the Dominator during the Rebellion, or was only brought into the picture after his defeat, is not established in the Annals. Bomanz the Wakener Three hundred and seventy years after the dragon went underground to guard the Barrowland, it observed the disembodied spirit of Bomanz enter the Great Barrow. It perceived him to be a threat but was unable to harm him. Shortly afterward, when a group of Resurrectionists led by Tokar broke the enchantments, the dragon burst from the ground during the chaos. As the Ten Who Were Taken began to rise from their barrows, the dragon flooded the area with torrents of its fiery breath. When Bomanz desperately charged into the fray to attempt to use the true name of the Lady to strip her of her powers, the dragon tried to incinerate him. He unleashed his arsenal of spells but became inadvertently trapped and buried, unconscious, in the Barrowland himself. Everyone (the Lady included) believed that Bomanz had been killed by the beast. The dragon returned underground, as well, to keep the Dominator contained, as the liberation was orchestrated by the Lady to keep her husband imprisoned. ''The White Rose'' Battle of the Barrowland Darling and the Lady allied their forces to kill the Dominator once and for all. Before the Battle of the Barrowland, Croaker accidentally hit the dragon's jaw with a shovel as he helped unearth Bomanz. The dragon did not seem to notice, presumably because Croaker and the new Taken were all wearing Barrowland amulets at the time. As the Lady and Darling's forces were systematically exterminating the monsters from the Barrowland, the dragon rose again, leaving a massive trench in its wake. It perceived them as a threat to the Dominator's prison, recognized Bomanz, and tried to incinerate him just as it had decades ago. Bomanz fought the creature to a standstill, and delivered a fatal wound with his sorcery. The dragon let out a great shriek, "flopped like an injured worm", and soon died. Bomanz disappeared and once again, the world falsely believed he had been killed by the same beast (although, this time, he had intentionally faked his own death). Croaker admired Bomanz's apparent sacrifice, because he kept the dragon occupied while the allied forces could focus on the Dominator and kill him. ''The Silver Spike'' The massive corpse of the dragon remained uncorrupted at least a year after its demise. Nearby it, the Sapling had been planted with the silver spike – containing the evil power of the Dominator – nailed into its trunk. At night, the dragon's body could easily be mistaken for a "long, low, stony ridge", as it was thought to be by the spike thieves. Rather than rotting like a typical carcass, it became an "odd feature of the terrain" over time. Category:Characters Category:Creatures Category:Demons